1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to mass spectrometers and methods for fabricating and operating mass spectrometers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mass spectrometers are tools for chemical detection and analysis. These tools measure mass-to-charge ratios of particles. From the charge-to-mass ratios, it is often possible to determine the masses of the particles being analyzed.
Conventional mass spectrometers include three devices. The first device ionizes the particles to be analyzed. The second device stores and/or separates the ionized particles according to mass-to-charge ratios. The third device measures the quantities of ionized particles with specific charge-to-mass ratios.
A variety of conventional mass spectrometers use a quadrupole ion trap to store and separate ionized particles according to mass-to-charge ratios. Examples or quadrupole ion traps are described, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 2,939,952, issued to W. Paul et al on Jun. 7, 1960 to W. Paul. U.S. Pat. No. 2,939,952 is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Unfortunately, many mass spectrometers use metallic components fabricated by standard metal machining techniques. The metallic components are expensive to manufacture and assemble. The metallic components cause such mass spectrometers to be large and bulky. This later property has limited the widespread application and deployment of such devices.